


Let's Half-Grow Old Together

by inklingdeco



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, M/M, They Make It Work, mortals dating gods is tricky, two goobers in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 13:40:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11442048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inklingdeco/pseuds/inklingdeco
Summary: Another fic I made because I think Maui deserves a boyfriend, so here's another one with my male OC I made for him! This is a gift for cirilee on tumblr, who requested a fic where Maui and Makani discuss getting old (when one of them doesn't age.)





	Let's Half-Grow Old Together

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Just a note, this takes place AFTER the fic "The Years of a Mortal's Life," but it isn't nessesary to read that one first. Just be aware that Makani is 43 in this fic, and they are married at this point.
> 
> If you have requests for this couple please comment below!

"You know, when *I* notice that you've been worrying too much about your apperance, that means it's a problem."

Maui had leaned down next to Makani's shoulder as he was looking at his reflection in a crystaline slab (a gift for Makani Maui claimed he made from a gemstone deep underground beneath a volcano, but really he just stole it from Lalotai) as Makani messed with his hair for the 500th time that day. He had been brushing his hair in every direction, trying to find a way to chover up both the grey around his temples and the thinning on the top of his head almost every time he passed the makeshift mirror ever since Maui "made" it for him.  
Makani lowered his shoulders and rolled his eyes, fingers still on his sideburns.

"I do *not* worry too much about it," Makani said, turning his head to the side and trying to comb the hair on the sides of his head foreward to cover up more grey. 

"Uh, you look in the mirror more than I do. Me, Mister "brushes-his-hair-5-times-a-day." More than ME, Makani."

"Well, it's paying off," Makani said, turning his head to look at Maui's (still incredibly silky, even after all these years,) hair with a smug smile. Maui smirked back at him and ran his fingers through his own hair again.

"Hey, I don't work this hard for nothing," Maui replied. He watched Makani continue to try to move his hair around, pull his face back a little with his hands to tighten the skin around his eyes and mouth, then go back to the hair, then look at the backs of his hands, then back to the skin, then-  
He sat down on his knees next to Makani, squinting at him.

"You do worry about it too much though."

"I worry about it the right amount, I think! Like, a reasonable amount for someone my age." 

"I just don't get the point!"

Makani huffed and pushed his bangs back with his hands, tilting his head back a little.

"Well of course *you* don't get the point. You don't physically age anymore. You're not changing, you don't have to worry about it."

"Nah nah nah, I don't mean like that," Maui said, shaking his head and holding out his hands, "I don't get why you, PERSONALLY, worry about it so much."

Makani leaned back a little, sitting back on his feet and looking at Maui with his head tilted. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, you look fine-"

"Oh, stop," Makani said, smiling shyly and looking off to the side.

"No, I mean it! You look great, just as great as the day I met you."

Makani shook his head, looking down at the back of his right hand and he rubbed it slightly. "That's impossible, I look really, really different from when we met. I was 25 when we met and I'm 43 now, you can't tell me I still look the same."

Maui pointed to Makani, smirking playfully. "Ah, see, I never said you looked the SAME. You look different, yeah, but still good. Still really good, if I do say so."

Makani turned his head to face Maui again, his lips parted and staring at him in disbelief. Maui didn't look a day older from the day they had first starting dating, or when they got married for that matter. He had a new tattoo, and maybe an additional scar or two, but other than that he had retained the same boyish look and demeanor for the last 18 years. Those 18 years had treated Makani...maybe better than other humans, he would admit (he assumed he took after his mother more, even if he had never seen her, just based on how old his father looked even when he was a baby,) but still not the same. Could Maui have even known this would happen to him? Did he know he was going to end up with grey hair and creases around his eyes and mouth? 

Makani looked down for a minute then looked back at Maui.

"Is it weird? That I keep looking older and you're still the same? Is it weird that I don't look the same anymore?"

"You're acting like you turned into a completely different species, you're still you!"

"It kind of FEELS like I did, especially compared to you." He looked back at himself in the blue crystal mirror, rubbing his arm and comparing his reflection to the reflection he saw 18 years prior. Maui frowned and leaned forward, putting his hand on Makani's shoulder and speaking softer.

"Hey, you still look beautiful to me, okay? It's still you, you're never going to look ugly to me, I promise." He looked down and squeezed Makani's shoulder, his voice shifting in tone and reflecting the sad look on his face. "It is weird in the sense that...I know you're going somewhere I can't follow. The only thing that bothers me about it is I know it means you're getting older and I'm not, and someday...you won't be here anymore."

Makani stared at Maui for a moment, before scooting over so they were sitting hip-to-hip and putting his head on Maui's shoulder. Maui chuckled and put his arms around Makani, Makani smiling in response. 

"I promise you are still just as beautiful to me now as you were when you are 25. And 35. And will be at 45. It's a different kind of beauty in a couple ways but...mostly the same. You're still the same guy I married."

"And you've been regretting it ever since," Makani said with a smile.

"If you would just let me go peacefully I wouldn't keep trying to escape!" Maui said, holding onto Makani and looking up at the ceiling dramatically. "But you keep! Pulling! Me back!"

"I'm magic, I told you," Makani said, putting his hand on Maui's chin and turning his head back so they were making eye contact again, the two of them smiling at each other. Even after Makani looked away to look at the tattoos on Maui's arms, still currently wrapped around him, Maui continued looking at Makani. His eyes were still the same eyes he looked into when they pledged their life to each other and were married. His smile was still as vibrant and beautiful as ever. He really was the same kid, but inside a slightly older body. 

"Would it make you feel better if I shape-shifted to age with you?" Maui suggested, sitting up straighter with Makani still in his arms. He was sitting behind him, facing the back of Makani's head and his arms wrapped around him from behind.

Makani thought for a moment, shifting his eyes up and around while he thought. He pursed his lips and cocked them to the side in thought.

"Nnnno, you don't have to. I don't think it would make me feel any different. I'd know it was fake anyway, and it's more my issue is that I'm the one-"

"Too late-" Maui interrupted, Makani looking over his shoulder and bursting out into laughter as he turned and saw Maui with a head full of silver hair. He looked like he was wearing a wig, as not a single strand of hair stayed black. 

"And I'm REALLY rocking this hair color, too."

"Yeah! You know what, my mistake, you should keep that, forever. It makes you look really mature."

"And not like a kid who just got a bunch of sand in their hair?"

"Oh, definitely not." 

Makani continued to laugh into his hand as Maui flipped his hair back, putting his chin on Makani's shoulder and snickering with him. 

"You don't want to grow old together?" Maui said in a sing-song voice, keeping his chin on Makani's bouncing shoulders.

"It wouldn't be growing old together! It would be me growing old and you playing dress-up!" He stopped laughing and just leaned his head back with a smile, Maui kissing him on the neck as he shifted. "I promise, I'm fine. As long as you don't think I'm getting uglier, I won't either."

"I think the grey looks nice on you," Maui said into Makani's neck. Makani blinked, a look of disbelief on his face before smiling softly. 

"Well, thank you," Makani replied, reaching up and rubbing his fingers through the side of Maui's hair, Maui keeping his face by Makani's neck. The two of them sat in silence for a long while, Maui with his arms still around Makani's middle, Makani playing with Maui's hair, before Makani finally broke the hazy silence.

"You know, you can date other people after I'm gone. It won't upset me."

Maui sat up (maybe a little too quickly,) turning his head to the side and flipping his hair back. He looked off to their right instead of at Makani, smiling and saying things like "Ah, naaah," and blowing air out between his lips in a flippant gesture without actually responding to the question. Makani stood up, walking to the other side of the room, his back to Maui as he went over to the corner where he was keeping a basket he was working on weaving.

"I'm serious," he said over his shoulder, "If you meet someone else you like after I die it's not going to bother me if you date again. Or even get married again. It won't cheapen our relationship." He sit down on the mat on the floor they used as a bed, sitting with his legs crossed and looking over at Maui. 

"You're the first person who's wanted to. I doubt it'll happen again," Maui said, standing up and stretching. He was smiling, and almost laughing as he spoke like it was a joke. Makani was well aware Maui would often brush things off like it was funny, non-chalantly acting like he didn't care when he didn't want to confront an issue. Makani had heard things like "Pffft, what? I'm fine!" before Maui would quickly try to change the subject many times over the course of their relationship.

"I'm just saying," Makani said, looking at him with a serious but understanding expression, "if you happened to say, get married to someone else a thousand years down the line, or even just 10 years, that won't mean this didn't matter." He put one hand on his heart and held the other one up in the air. "I PROMISE you I won't come back as a spirit and smite you for liking someone else."

Maui laughed a little, still looking off to his side and rubbing the back of his neck. Where he was at now, he couldn't conceive ever liking someone as much as he liked Makani. It had never happened before- he had been in "relationships" before, but they were almost entirely one-sided. Most of the time it was young women who just wanted to sleep with him, and once they had their fun they would leave. He assumed there was something thrilling to them about getting to say they had sex with a demigod, because normally they would not stick around for more than a month before they were bored with Maui and would ask to be taken back home. He'd always oblige, never feeling too personal of a connection to them anyway, but secretly hoping he was able to make them happy and please them in some way. As long as he was wanted...

But Makani was different. Obviously because they did not get along the first time they met, so there was never a feeling that Makani just found the idea of dating a demigod thrilling, but it was the first time Maui felt like he was in a *relationship.* It actually grew out of understanding and communication. Makani hadn't approached him one day, flirted with him, pretended to be interested in all the superficial aspects of him to get what he wanted like all the women (and a man or two) had in the past, they were forced to work together out of circumstance but found they had a lot in common. Maui felt like Makani got to know him as HIM, not as a god. The things Makani fell in love with were the human parts of him, and Maui was the first human who stuck around that he sincerely hoped never ever asked to be dropped off back home. He wanted to keep him around, learn more about him, and be together. (Heck, Makani didn't even propose having sex until shortly after he had turned 28, which is what really assured Maui he wasn't just in it for that...even if it was AMAZING.) 

"I guess...I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Maui said, looking down at the ground before lifting his head up and smiling. "I mean, I still have to beat them off with a stick even WHEN you're around. I'm just glad you're not the jealous type."

"It's almost ridiculous at this point, we literally go places holding hands and people don't seem to get it. I'm more annoyed at them than jealous."

"You're literally IN some of these new stories people are writing about me! There are murals of you and I standing next to each other!" Maui said, sitting down next to Makani and throwing his hands in the air.

"More than half of the stories just call me your friend," Makani said with a chuckle. 

"They can't handle the idea of me being taken, what can I say," Maui said with a shrug. Makani smiled sweetly and put the basket he was working on down, sitting up on his knees and turning Maui's head toward him.

"And, hey...I-I didn't mean to scare you or anything. I'm not going to be gone for awhile, don't think it's going to be in like, a few weeks. You still have to put up with me for a few more decades," he said, keeping his smile. "And I promise, even after I'm gone, there's nowhere you can go that I won't be with you. I know it worries you to think about me being gone, but I promise you'll do just fine."

Maui smiled a little and held Makani's hand on his cheek, leaning forward and kissing him on the lips. He squeezed Makani's hand as they pulled away, simply saying, "Thank you."

Makani sat back down and grabbed his basket again, scooting closer to Maui so they were hip-and-hip again.

"So, we can't exactly grow old together...but, I can grow old and you can watch! Does that sound good?" 

"You sure the grey hair on me is out?"

"I'm sure."

Maui leaned back on his hands and smiled, shrugging. "I guess that works, then. We'll half-grow old together."


End file.
